Chapter 27 Blaming the Heavenly Temple, Server-wide Condemnation of the Number One Guild

The news of Lin Ye bringing the Giant Bear Lord back to the city exploded across the entire server for the whole night. But what really broke Qin Wentian was not the boss being tamed, but a post that appeared on the forum the next morning.

The post was made by Lin Ye, and the title was quite skillful—

"【Hot Post】 Shocking! The whole server's No. 1 guild, Heavenly Temple, goes to the extent of luring a World Boss to slaughter the city just to kill a novice solo player! Where is their conscience?"

The post included a three-minute video. The beginning showed over 300 Heavenly Temple members ambushing outside the North Gate, standing in neat rows, full of murderous intent. In the middle was footage of them chasing Lin Ye's trio, with skills flying everywhere and shouts filling the air. Finally, it showed the Giant Bear Lord charging into the crowd, slapping over a dozen people away with one strike, while screams, explosions, and the sounds of equipment shattering mixed together.

But the most ingenious part was the editing. Lin Ye cut out all the footage of himself luring the boss, leaving only the Heavenly Temple members chasing him, then the boss suddenly appearing, and then the Heavenly Temple members being wiped out. Watching the whole video, the impression one gets is—the Heavenly Temple members wanted to kill Lin Ye, but accidentally provoked the Giant Bear Lord and were wiped out by the boss.

At the end of the video, there was a line of large text: "The No. 1 guild on the server, this is their quality? Chasing down solo players and luring a World Boss to slaughter the city, is this what you call 'maintaining game order'?"

Less than ten minutes after the post was published, it was pushed to the homepage. The entire server's players exploded after watching the video—

【Forum Hot Post】

1st Floor: Holy crap! Isn't Heavenly Temple too shameless? Over 300 people chasing one solo player?

2nd Floor: Chasing is one thing, but luring a World Boss? Isn't that harming people? What if the boss rushes into the main city?

3rd Floor: Are you stupid upstairs? The video clearly shows the boss appearing on its own, what does it have to do with Heavenly Temple?

4th Floor: Are you a dog for Heavenly Temple, 3rd floor? Didn't you see the boss only chasing Heavenly Temple members? It must have been provoked by them!

5th Floor: Regardless, over 300 people chasing a solo player, this can't be washed clean. Heavenly Temple is just bullying people!

6th Floor: Brother Ye is too miserable, getting blocked at the door when opening a shop, being chased when leaving the city, and even a World Boss joining the fun. Can this game even be played?

7th Floor: Miserable? Brother Ye didn't die once, while Heavenly Temple lost over 300 people. Who is miserable, they know in their hearts.

The post was pushed higher and higher, breaking 100,000 replies in just one hour. The public opinion of the entire server's players was one-sided, all cursing Heavenly Temple.

【world channel】

【Player "Brick-Moving Expert": Isn't Heavenly Temple too overbearing? Does someone opening a shop affect you? Is it worth chasing with over 300 people?】

【Player "Invincible Sword God": Exactly! And they call themselves the No. 1 guild in the server, this is their quality? Disgraceful!】

【Player "Milk Tea Without Sugar": I will never buy things from Heavenly Temple again. Such a guild doesn't deserve my money.】

【Player "Solo Player Old Li": Support Brother Ye! Boycott Heavenly Temple!】

Qin Wentian looked at the post on the forum, his face livid. He opened the video and watched it repeatedly three times; the more he watched, the angrier he got—the video indeed had no footage of Lin Ye luring the boss, only the Heavenly Temple members chasing. He wanted to refute it, but he couldn't produce evidence. What could he say? Say Lin Ye put a Decay Debuff on the boss? Say the boss was lured over by Lin Ye? Wouldn't that be equivalent to admitting their people were chasing Lin Ye?

"This Ye..." Qin Wentian said through gritted teeth, "Is playing a public opinion war with me."

His underling behind him asked cautiously: "Guild Leader, should we delete the post? I can pull some strings..."

"Deleting it will only make us look guilty." Qin Wentian was silent for a few seconds, "Issue a statement, say the video is taken out of context, Heavenly Temple didn't lure the boss. It was that Ye who caused the trouble himself."

The underling responded and hurried to write the statement. But after the statement was released, the effect was even worse—

【world channel】

【Player "Wocao Wuqing": Taken out of context? Then show us the full video?】

【Player "Yes Little Follower": Guild Leader Qin, you say Brother Ye caused trouble, do you have evidence? No evidence means slander!】

【Player "Onlooker": Heavenly Temple is panicked, starting to shift the blame. Too bad they can't wipe it clean.】

Qin Wentian looked at these comments and was so angry he smashed his mouse. He opened his private messages and sent a message to Lin Ye—

【Private Message】 Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: Ye, do you think you can take me down by posting a video? Too naive. Heavenly Temple is the No. 1 guild in the server, not something that can be shaken by a few posts.

Lin Ye replied in seconds—

【Private Message】 Lin Ye: Guild Leader Qin, I didn't intend to take you down. I just wanted to let the whole server's players see what kind of conduct Heavenly Temple has. As for whether I can take you down—that's something you did to yourselves, it has nothing to do with me.

Qin Wentian looked at this message, his face turning completely black. He closed the private messages and opened the guild channel, only to find that the atmosphere in the guild was also not right—

【Guild Channel】

【Temple of Gods - Berserker】: Guild Leader, everyone on the forum is cursing us, what should we do?

【Heavenly Temple Mage】: I don't even dare to speak in the guild channel, I get cursed by people on the world channel as soon as I speak.

【Heavenly Temple Priest】: Guild Leader, why don't we stop targeting that Ye for now? If this continues, the guild's reputation will be completely ruined.

【Lingtian of Heavenly Temple】: What are you afraid of? Just a solo player, what kind of waves can he make? Guild Leader, I'll go call more people, we must kill him back to the Novice Village today!

Qin Wentian looked at these messages and remained silent for a long time. Of course he wanted to kill Lin Ye, but not now. The whole server was watching Heavenly Temple now; taking action again would only make public opinion even more embarrassing.

【Guild Channel】 【Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian】: Everyone listen. Stop all actions targeting Ye for now. Wait for the limelight to pass, then we will deal with him slowly.

The guild channel was silent. Some breathed a sigh of relief, some were unwilling, but no one dared to oppose.

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was sitting on the third floor of the Commoner Supermarket, watching the post on the forum with a wicked smile on his face.

Fatty Wang leaned over and asked: "Brother, Heavenly Temple's people have retreated. Should we go restock?"

Lin Ye nodded: "Let's go, to the wild. It's time to level up."

"Where to?"

Lin Ye opened the map and pointed to an area east of the main city: "Ash Plains. There are level 20 to 30 wild monsters there, the experience is high, and the materials dropped are good. It's just right for us to level up."

Su Qinghan frowned: "Ash Plains is Heavenly Temple's territory. They have fixed monster-grinding teams there, with at least fifty people guarding it."

Lin Ye laughed: "Isn't that even better? Experience packs delivered to our doorstep."

The three walked out of the Commoner Supermarket towards the Ash Plains. The Giant Bear Lord followed obediently behind like a guard dog. Solo players along the way saw this scene and were all stunned—

"Holy crap, Brother Ye is bringing a World Boss to grind monsters? That's too luxurious, right?"

"He has a boss as a hitter, we can't even beat small monsters. This is the gap."

"Don't say anything, saying too much is all tears."

The three walked to the entrance of the Ash Plains and indeed saw dozens of Heavenly Temple members guarding there. The team leader's ID was "Heavenly Temple - Iron Fist", who was a level 22 warrior, wearing a full set of purple gear, holding a large hammer in his hand.

Iron Fist saw Lin Ye and his face changed: "You still dare to come?"

Lin Ye laughed: "Why wouldn't I dare? Is this place owned by your family?"

Iron Fist gritted his teeth, wanting to make a move, but remembering what the Guild Leader said about "temporarily stop all actions," he held back. He waved his hand and retreated with his men.

"Let's go! Let him grind! Let's see what he can grind out."

Fifty-plus people slunk away.

Fatty Wang watched this scene and jumped up in excitement: "Brother! They are scared!"

Lin Ye laughed: "Not scared, just learned to be smart. Let's go, grind monsters."

The three walked into the Ash Plains and started grinding. Lin Ye opened the path in front, applying the Decay Debuff to the monsters, starting at 50 stacks, killing them instantly. Su Qinghan cast shields from behind, and Fatty Wang picked up equipment in the middle. The Giant Bear Lord patrolled on the side, slapping anyone who dared to get close.

The cooperation became more and more tacit, and the grinding efficiency became higher and higher. In just one hour, the three leveled up from 20 to 23, and their backpacks were full of materials and equipment.

Fatty Wang shouted while picking up items: "Brother! Another purple item! And a rare material!"

Su Qinghan couldn't help but sigh: "Your grinding speed is faster than those professional grinding teams."

Lin Ye shrugged: "Good Talent, can't help it."

Just as he was speaking, the system suddenly popped up a notification—

【System Notification: You have accumulated 1000 kills on targets affected by the Decay Debuff. Talent upgrade effect unlocked: Decay Gain — Every time you kill a target affected by the Decay Debuff, permanently increase attack power by 1, no upper limit.】

Lin Ye's eyes lit up. Permanently increase attack power? No upper limit? This meant as long as he killed enough, his attack power could stack infinitely!

"This Talent is too absurd." He couldn't help but say.

Su Qinghan leaned over to take a look and gasped: "Permanently increase attack power? No upper limit? Doesn't that mean you'll be invincible in the future?"

Lin Ye laughed: "Not in the future, but now."

He raised his hand, applied the debuff to the group of monsters in front of him, and killed them instantly. His attack power increased by dozens of points again.

The three ground for a whole day, from the Ash Plains to the Scorched Ruins, and from the Scorched Ruins to the Lava Canyon. Their level went from 20 to 28, their backpacks were full of materials and equipment, and their attack power had increased by several hundred points.

In the evening, the three sat on the top of the mountain in the Lava Canyon, looking at the sunset in the distance. Fatty Wang hugged a pile of equipment and giggled silly: "Brother, how much money did we make today?"

Lin Ye calculated: "Materials and equipment combined, at least worth one million gold coins."

Fatty Wang's eyes went straight: "One million?! Isn't that... two million real currency?"

Lin Ye nodded: "About that."

Fatty Wang was so excited his hands were shaking: "Brother, I have never earned so much money!"

Su Qinghan also smiled: "I have never seen such a money-making speed either. You are simply a money-printing machine."

Lin Ye shrugged: "Not a money-printing machine, but a wool-shearing machine."

As the three were talking, Fatty Wang suddenly leaned over and said mysteriously: "Brother, I have an idea."

"What idea?"

"We have so many materials and equipment, relying on ourselves to sell them is too slow. Why not start a protection fee business?"

"Protection fee?" Lin Ye raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Fatty Wang became more excited as he spoke, "You see, all the solo players on the server are being bullied by Heavenly Temple. Stealing monsters, blocking doors, scamming people. We can set up a protection fee package—players who pay the protection fee can enjoy services like anti-monster stealing, anti-scam, and anti-chasing here. If anyone dares to bully them, we will step in and deal with them."

Lin Ye's eyes brightened. This is a good idea. It can make money and help solo players stand up for themselves, killing two birds with one stone.

"Okay." He patted Fatty Wang on the shoulder, "You came up with this idea, you be responsible for it."

Fatty Wang jumped up in excitement: "Really? Brother, don't worry! I will definitely handle it well!"

Su Qinghan watched this scene and couldn't help but laugh: "Your team is looking more and more decent."

Lin Ye stood up and patted the dust off his body: "Let's go, back to the city. Time to get to work."

The three walked back to the main city with backpacks full of equipment and materials.

Meanwhile, at the Heavenly Temple headquarters, Qin Wentian was staring at the Ash Plains marker on the map, his eyes cold. His underling reported: "Guild Leader, that Ye has been grinding in the Ash Plains for a whole day, and his level is already 28. He also got quite a few rare materials."

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth and said: "Let him grind. When the material prices drop, I will deal with him slowly."

The underling hesitated and said again: "Guild Leader, there is one more thing. Several material merchants in the main city contacted me just now and said... said they don't want to cooperate with us anymore."

Qin Wentian's face changed: "Why?"

"They said that the prices at that Ye's Commoner Supermarket are too low, and our materials can't be sold. If they continue to hoard, they will go bankrupt."

Qin Wentian clenched his fists, veins popping out. He didn't expect that Lin Ye's Commoner Supermarket hadn't even had many customers yet, but it had already started affecting Heavenly Temple's material monopoly.

"This Ye..." he said in a low voice, "is forcing me."

The underling asked cautiously: "Guild Leader, why don't we lower prices too?"

Qin Wentian was silent for a long time, and finally shook his head: "No. Lowering prices is admitting defeat. I, Qin Wentian, cannot afford to lose this face."

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the direction of the Commoner Supermarket in the distance, his eyes cold.

"Ye, do you think you won? No, this is just the beginning."

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was standing at the entrance of the Commoner Supermarket, looking at the Heavenly Temple headquarters in the distance, a wicked smile curling on the corner of his mouth.

"Qin Wentian, didn't you want to monopolize materials? Then I will show you what a real monopoly is."

He turned and walked into the supermarket, starting to discuss the protection fee package with Fatty Wang.